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The Binding of Isaac: Rebirth |OT| Pixel Heart Mother

SerTapTap

Member
Actually I think Demon Baby still gets your tear effects unlike the other babies, not sure about damage scaling though.
 
You guys are sleeping on Rotten Baby. I don't have any of the problems you guys mentioned and I specifically used him to beat Family Man without relying on any other familiars. I don't know what to say other than make sure you get him, not Isaac, close to the enemy.

The ultimate reason he's the superior baby is the fact that he keeps scaling with you, while babbys like Li'l Brimstone and Demon Baby do not. When you're fighting The Lamb, Rotten will still be doing good damage while you have no reason to even let Li'l Brim shoot.

Yep. Get a "Big Flies and Spiders" item from the shop and the challenge is pretty much done. Rotten Baby is amazing. Overall I like Lil' Brim more, but Rotten is definitely one of the best familiars.
 

dLMN8R

Member
A couple of games in a row, I got some item that spawned friendly spiders with every bit of damage I did on other enemies. It compounded my overall damage like crazy.

Any idea what item that could have been? I don't remember picking anything up that would do that.
 
A couple of games in a row, I got some item that spawned friendly spiders with every bit of damage I did on other enemies. It compounded my overall damage like crazy.

Any idea what item that could have been? I don't remember picking anything up that would do that.

Infestation 2 or Moms Wig maybe?
 

aku:jiki

Member
A couple of games in a row, I got some item that spawned friendly spiders with every bit of damage I did on other enemies. It compounded my overall damage like crazy.

Any idea what item that could have been? I don't remember picking anything up that would do that.
Has to be Mom's Wig the way you're describing it. It pops spiders randomly when you fire, though, not when you hit.

That's another item even the streamers are sleeping on so far. No one seems to realize that it procs on shots fired, which is amazing. The thing generates spiders even in empty rooms, not even Guppy can do that!
 
So what does everyone's "do not pickup" list look like? Off the top of my head:

-both milk items
-Fire Mind (the random explosions just aren't worth it, I did way too much damage to myself)
-Bob's Brain (for similiiar reasons as above)

Strange Attractor might be the worst item in the game. I've had it with a few different synergies and even then it sucked. It seems to lure the enemies to you, more than your tears, making dodging almost impossible since it breaks up their normal movement.

I'll also pass up:

-Cursed eye
-Dead Cat (unless I already have one or two hearts)
-Guppies Tail in most cases, since I never have keys on Hardmode.
-Dr. Fetus. Backfires way too often if you have even a decent rate of fire.
-Champion Belt
-And most useable items. I'll pick them up if I don't already have one, but most of them I can pass up.

I'll also throw in the Guillotine. Makes it very hard to dodge and line up your shots. I'm sure there are more, both those are what come to mind.
 

Haunted

Member
Dr. Fetus got nerfed pretty damn hard, but I still think it's well worth a pickup just for the free rocks and secret rooms. People seriously underestimate how much shit is hidden in rocks on every floor.

So what does everyone's "do not pickup" list look like? Off the top of my head:

-both milk items
-Fire Mind (the random explosions just aren't worth it, I did way too much damage to myself)
-Bob's Brain (for similiiar reasons as above)
Kamikaze
Anti-Gravity
Strange Attractor
The Tick
anything cursed
 
I always pick up Dead Cat. Becoming Guppy is waaaay too good and I try to play on soul hearts all the time anyway. Red hearts are pretty much just currency for devil deals.
 

Haunted

Member
I'm still trying really hard to make Soy Milk a thing but the damage reduction is just... ugh.

The real response is "why bother". A damage increase, but the result is an increase in enemies that take more damage. And I get the privilege of paying for it. Whoo wee.
Enemies that take more damage... but often drop a consumable when killed. Worth it, imo. Same as Purple Heart. You actually want champion enemies because it means free items.
 

Jarsonot

Member
Mind blown on bobs brain not going again if you continue shooting in the same direction. Still will probably hate the damn thing, but will give it another chance now.

Don't think I've ever had strange attractor, probably an unlock? I'm at the point where I'm not afraid to look things up now, so I'll find out.

This game is fantastic, both me and the wife have played a TON. PS4 and vita, mostly PS4.

I'm surprised to see that tiny planet isn't on more "avoid" lists. I've never had a good run with it, though I don't think I've had any good follow-ups to it...
 

BigAT

Member
The real response is "why bother". A damage increase, but the result is an increase in enemies that take more damage. And I get the privilege of paying for it. Whoo wee.

Yeah, but they're not that much harder and they have a much higher chance to drop items. I like Champion's Belt is pretty good.
 
I'm still trying really hard to make Soy Milk a thing but the damage reduction is just... ugh.


Enemies that take more damage... but often drop a consumable when killed. Worth it, imo. Same as Purple Heart. You actually want champion enemies because it means free items.

In hard mode they drop attacks far more than items. And do more damage when they hit you.

Still not worth it for me.

And I've had a lot of decent builds with soy milk so its not exactly on my ignore list. But I will pass it up if I'm a couple floors deep and it will reset my attack damage.
 
There are several types of the "same" attack. When Isaac does, for example, the top-right to bottom-left variant it is sometimes safe to stand in the bottom left and sometimes safe to stand in the bottom right. I haven't been able to tell the difference between the startup animations of these two types.

That's why I don't mess with the bottom at all. I haven't been able to reliably gauge the spacing of the different patterns from the bottom, but I never get hit if I just hide in the opposite top corner.
 

Newt

Member
I've had a run where I beat blue baby with tiny planet, telepathy for dummies, and only a few damage up items like the pact. Tiny planet is good yo.
 
Said in CobaltStreak's voice, "Victory ... for Eve!"

Finally, FINALLY got a good run going with her and it was such a strong run I killed
Blue Baby
. Very, very nice unlock from what I've seen on streams.
 

SerTapTap

Member
I've had a run where I beat blue baby with tiny planet, telepathy for dummies, and only a few damage up items like the pact. Tiny planet is good yo.

Tiny Planet is good if you can take advantage of it. I wouldn't just take it and hope I get synergy. Telepathy is great with it though.

Mind blown on bobs brain not going again if you continue shooting in the same direction. Still will probably hate the damn thing, but will give it another chance now.

Don't think I've ever had strange attractor, probably an unlock? I'm at the point where I'm not afraid to look things up now, so I'll find out.

Strange Attractor is worse than it sounds, description seems harmless, but since tears originate from Isaac, it often results in enemies being drawn to isaac moreso than into tears. If you have fast tears it can be extremely annoying, and it drastically changes some boss behavior for the worse as well (Pin FREAKS OUT with it and is a nightmare to hit/dodge while in the air)

Said in CobaltStreak's voice, "Victory ... for Eve!"

Finally, FINALLY got a good run going with her and it was such a strong run I killed
Blue Baby
. Very, very nice unlock from what I've seen on streams.

Great item, one of the few orbitals I'll actively attempt to use offensively almost all the time on bosses instead of in emergencies.
 

Kaybe

Unconfirmed Member
Picking up Mom's Eye while having IPECAC shots wasn't my brightest moment. Misstook it for triple shot.
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
Strange attractor works great with Mom's knife. Holding down the button draws enemies to running at the knife and as long as you have decent speed you don't actually take damage yourself.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Picking up Mom's Eye while having IPECAC shots wasn't my brightest moment. Misstook it for triple shot.

What...does it do? Does the knife explode? Knife overrides most other tear effects (triple, double and presumably quad shot do work though). BTW isn't brimstone supposed to work with the knife? It doesn't in my experience, certainly not in the way Ed showed before release.

Strange attractor works great with Mom's knife. Holding down the button draws enemies to running at the knife and as long as you have decent speed you don't actually take damage yourself.

Hadn't thought of that, still, I'd prefer predictable enemies.
 

BigAT

Member
I had an absolutely ridiculous run earlier today on ???. I got
Satanic Bible
pretty early on, which was obviously a huge help for keeping my health up (eventually traded it in for The Nail). Then I got
Scythe
(from a treasure room, which I didn't even know was possible), Lump of Coal and another damage up item.

Then towards the end of the run I got
Stop Watch
for the first time. Holy cow, you guys weren't kidding about that being OP, I'm real glad I did the grind for 999 coins now. I didn't even have a Mom's Heart kill on ??? before this run, but I ended up killing both
Isaac
and
Blue Baby
without taking a hit from either. I also got the no-damage achievement for The Chest without even thinking about it.
 

Kaybe

Unconfirmed Member
What...does it do? Does the knife explode? Knife overrides most other tear effects (triple, double and presumably quad shot do work though). BTW isn't brimstone supposed to work with the knife? It doesn't in my experience, certainly not in the way Ed showed before release.



Hadn't thought of that, still, I'd prefer predictable enemies.
It's the eye at the back of your head and explosive shots... yeah.
 
Trying to get the D6 is the most annoying shit ever. The luck aspect really comes into play during Blue Baby playthroughs . I just keep dying... and dying...
and dying... and dying
 

Mugsy

Member
Picking up Mom's Eye while having IPECAC shots wasn't my brightest moment. Misstook it for triple shot.

I think I can one up you in stupid decisions, once while on a successful run going for the boss rush I picked up the equalizer item (Libra?) while I had IPECAC. Suddenly I was machine gunning low damage ipecac everywhere and damaging myself frequently. I pushed to the boss rush anyway, where without thinking I picked up Mom's eye. Whenever I started firing mass ipecac would shoot out in front and behind me nearly killing myself in completing the boss rush. When i did get damaged it would ricochet me in the other direction where my previously fired ipecac was going off causing even more ricocheting while invulnerable. Basically whenever I took damage I started flying around in every direction while invulnerable until I stopped firing to regain control.
 

Kaybe

Unconfirmed Member
Oh, ow. I figured it'd override it because it does that to Dr Fetus
I didn't have the knife at all though, just exploding tears and then I got the eye at the back of Isaacs head. Maybe you misread it earlier.
I think I can one up you in stupid decisions, once while on a successful run going for the boss rush I picked up the equalizer item (Libra?) while I had IPECAC. Suddenly I was machine gunning low damage ipecac everywhere and damaging myself frequently. I pushed to the boss rush anyway, where without thinking I picked up Mom's eye. Whenever I started firing mass ipecac would shoot out in front and behind me nearly killing myself in completing the boss rush. When i did get damaged it would ricochet me in the other direction where my previously fired ipecac was going off causing even more ricocheting while invulnerable. Basically whenever I took damage I started flying around in every direction while invulnerable until I stopped firing to regain control.
Damn, having the Pyromaniac item in that situation would've been insane though.
Edit: Speak of the devil, I just got it. Now I hope I get IPECAC again.
Nevermind if those shots doesn't work if they doesn't count as bomb blasts.
 

SerTapTap

Member
Trying to get the D6 is the most annoying shit ever. The luck aspect really comes into play during Blue Baby playthroughs . I just keep dying... and dying...
and dying... and dying

Get very familiar with the devil pool items, some are effectively free or lower price for blue baby since they give soul/black hearts. The Nail or Dark Bum are a free ticket to victory if you see 'em. Satanic Bible is also good.

I didn't have the knife at all though, just exploding tears and then I got the eye at the back of Isaacs head. Maybe you misread it earlier.

Oh, I read mom's knife not eye. Yeah, eye + anything that explodes is bad. Though on that note, Mom's Eye + Knife is hilarious, two knives, and the back one isn't slow like the tears are. That + triple shot is even better.
 

aku:jiki

Member
I always pick up Dead Cat. Becoming Guppy is waaaay too good and I try to play on soul hearts all the time anyway. Red hearts are pretty much just currency for devil deals.
Yeah, I didn't mention it because dude's clearly not quite there yet. Everyone goes through that phase of "red chests SUCK!" before they have that moment of realization (i.e. the first time they figure out how to become Guppy).

Enemies that take more damage... but often drop a consumable when killed. Worth it, imo. Same as Purple Heart. You actually want champion enemies because it means free items.
Yup. +1.0 damage and more consumables. It's a damn near MVP item on hard for the increased consumables.

In hard mode they drop attacks far more than items. And do more damage when they hit you.
Hard doesn't affect what color champions spawn, just the amount, and it's the color that determines what they do. Blue is what drops 8 bullets. Hard has no actual effect on any of the combat, besides the increased champion spawns, FYI. No increased attack rates or added damage or anything of that nature.

Grey is the best (like a 90% chance for a key drop).
 

SerTapTap

Member
Champion enemies are not much harder but the drops are far more worth it. You'll have to learn the champion tricks anyway (purple ones shoot blood shots, blue explode into 8 shots, black just explodes), challenge up sounds scary but it's actually a positive.

Yeah, I didn't mention it because dude's clearly not quite there yet. Everyone goes through that phase of "red chests SUCK!" before they have that moment of realization (i.e. the first time they figure out how to become Guppy).

Red chests are awesome, except the 4 in
dark room
only because The Chest has better items on average. Love red chests, the chance of 2 soul hearts, guppy pieces or Goat's Head is CRAZY worth occasionally getting some spiders or a troll bomb.
 

Celegus

Member
Picking up Mom's Eye while having IPECAC shots wasn't my brightest moment. Misstook it for triple shot.

Ipecac + guillotine is a pretty funny "doh!" moment as well. Don't stand next to walls...

Also Champion Belt everytime. I play Isaac with an extreme sense of YOLO. Eat every pill, grab most questionable items just because, dead cat no matter what, heck even take devil deals on Blind floors.
 

aku:jiki

Member
Damn, I wonder what the odds of this is?

f80w9WP.jpg

That's not using the shovel or any shenanigans. Just two rocks dropping two trapdoors in one room.

I play Isaac with an extreme sense of YOLO. Eat every pill, grab most questionable items just because, dead cat no matter what, heck even take devil deals on Blind floors.
That's called doing it right, my son. Isaac is absolutely a "who dares wins" game and everything you can do to improve your odds is something you should do, even if it comes with a risk.
 
Hard doesn't affect what color champions spawn, just the amount, and it's the color that determines what they do. Blue is what drops 8 bullets. Hard has no actual effect on any of the combat, besides the increased champion spawns, FYI. No increased attack rates or added damage or anything of that nature.

Grey is the best (like a 90% chance for a key drop).

Of course, but you don't choose the color and many of the champions have a death attack of sorts. Going into a room of explosive red flies when you have one walkway, for example, is very hard to avoid a hit even if you're good. Everything depends on your build though. If I'm already taking out champions easily I'll grab the item. If it's taking five or six shots and I don't have much health (or money), I'll stay away.
 

Newt

Member
One change I really hate is the new one heart challenge rooms. In the original they used to guarantee you actually items. Shouldn't have to fight multiple bosses for like a chest with 3 coins and half a heart in it.
 
There are only very few runs where I don't just eat all pills.
In general, the positive effects will outweigh the negatives, since you can take the good ones more than once, while you'll only take one of every bad one.

I'll definitely take a tears up (or multiple even) and a Balls of Steel in exchange for a range down a bad trip and amnesia or something. The only things that really suck are tears and speed downs. If I get handicapped by them early on I just restart, and in the end the effect of one bad pill does not really affect anything.
 
I somehow managed to unlock the d100 and killed isaac, though I still died in the chest because I had incredible damage but no orbitals at all ;-; maybe I can cheese the game for the rest of the items lol
 

Archaix

Drunky McMurder
One change I really hate is the new one heart challenge rooms. In the original they used to guarantee you actually items. Shouldn't have to fight multiple bosses for like a chest with 3 coins and half a heart in it.


Apparently Edmund wanted to make it so that "Get the polaroid and win game" wasn't automatically the best strategy, so he made low health challenge rooms and full health rooms give similar rewards. You can get items out of either now but it's really rare.
 

Newt

Member
Apparently Edmund wanted to make it so that "Get the polaroid and win game" wasn't automatically the best strategy, so he made low health challenge rooms and full health rooms give similar rewards. You can get items out of either now but it's really rare.
They should have just made the polaroid count every heart instead of making those worthless rooms :/.
 

dLMN8R

Member
Alright, so I got the Dice Room with a 6 and now I'm super confused.

I apparently can no longer shoot after hitting this room. However, occasionally when trying to shoot, it'll generate a red portal-looking thing and my beam will fire out of it. But it's completely unreliable and I can't figure out how to get it to trigger.

Other than that, if I stay in a room long enough (15 seconds or so) with enemies, I'll suddenly turn invincible and will be able to kill them by running into them.

Also, when I lay bombs, it creates a huge clump of powerful tears.


http://i.imgur.com/zNcEvuC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DSQCwU3.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/S8Q7yko.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lrUxtfo.jpg

WTF was randomly generated by that dice room???
 

corn_fest

Member
One change I really hate is the new one heart challenge rooms. In the original they used to guarantee you actually items. Shouldn't have to fight multiple bosses for like a chest with 3 coins and half a heart in it.

I don't bother with either of the challenge rooms 99% of the time. Three waves of enemies, the last of which is usually a boss or something, for like... a coin. Every time.
 
Alright, so I got the Dice Room with a 6 and now I'm super confused.

I apparently can no longer shoot after hitting this room. However, occasionally when trying to shoot, it'll generate a red portal-looking thing and my beam will fire out of it. But it's completely unreliable and I can't figure out how to get it to trigger.

Other than that, if I stay in a room long enough (15 seconds or so) with enemies, I'll suddenly turn invincible and will be able to kill them by running into them.

Also, when I lay bombs, it creates a huge clump of powerful tears.


http://i.imgur.com/zNcEvuC.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DSQCwU3.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/S8Q7yko.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/lrUxtfo.jpg

WTF was randomly generated by that dice room???

You got brimstone+anti-grav tears+ a lot of tears down by the looks of it, infamy makes it hard to tell when the laser is charged. You also got taurus (progressive speed upin a room which then makes you invincible). Lastly, you got the sad bombs, should be pretty nice against bosses.
 

FerranMG

Member
I've figured out how I play this game:

1.- ok, I just clear one more room and I stop it.
2.- well, I'll wait until I kill the boss.
3.- all right, let me check the effects of the item the boss just dropped in the first room of the next floor.
4.- go to 1.
 
This was my second time I got Brimstone with Isaac, killed Mom under 20 minutes, I successfully beated Boss Rush and Killed the Lamb and damn I didn't realize that I changed from Hard to Normal by mistake (I was resetting my game so fast). So now I need to play it again to get the red line in both Boss Rush and The Lamb icons! :(
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
Damn, I wonder what the odds of this is?

That's not using the shovel or any shenanigans. Just two rocks dropping two trapdoors in one room.
Were you able to go in both? Do they go to Retro item rooms? Did they both go to the same one or different ones? Or do they go to the next floor?
 

wetflame

Pizza Dog
Were you able to go in both? Do they go to Retro item rooms? Did they both go to the same one or different ones? Or do they go to the next floor?

I might be wrong, but I think trapdoors with ladders go to retro item rooms, trapdoors without ladders go to the next floor.
 

The Real Abed

Perma-Junior
I might be wrong, but I think trapdoors with ladders go to retro item rooms, trapdoors without ladders go to the next floor.
That makes sense actually. So do both of those go to the same one or did he get two items out of this? And did one of them have a path to the Black Market? Speaking of which, does the path to the BM need to be revealed or will it be opened right away when you enter that room? I've never been to it and only seen someone get to it by glitching out of the screen bounds.
 
I've been playing this game since it came out for PS4, probably averaging a run or two a night, and it's easily one of my favorite games of the year.

Only thing that bugs me is it still feels like more luck than skill when I manage to win a run.

I've been trying to use the different rooms more often, for awhile I was just finding the item room and heading for the boss since the other rooms felt pointless to me. Honestly they still do to an extent, for example it seems like more than half the time I use a sacrifice room I either don't get a chest before I run out of hears, or it'll have like a key or a couple pennies or something like that.

I was ignoring the shop for awhile too, I've been trying to take better advantage of that but it seems like most of the $.15 items are passive ones that are really hard to tell the effect of. In fact, after putting quite a bit of time into the game I don't think I know what any of the passive items do aside from the worms, which are really obvious.

Do most people bother bombing random walls to find the secret rooms? Again, I've been trying to make that a habit but it usually feels like a waste to me, I'll spend a ton of time finding rooms and all I'll get is a few spare keys or maybe a silver heart or two.

Absolutely love the game but I wish I had a better grasp on how I can get better at it.
 
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